This invention relates to documents management in general, and in particular to an improved documents management technique using a set of searchable binders.
In medical records, legal and business offices, and some homes, notebook binders (hereinafter “binders”) are typically used to store documents used for medical, legal, other business and personal purposes. A typical binder has a front cover, a rear cover and a spine joining the two covers. Inside the binder, a multi-ring manually operable binder mechanism having two or more two-piece arcuate rings is permanently mounted to facilitate insertion, storage and removal of documents having a number of holes formed along a mounting edge, with the number of holes corresponding to the number of rings of the binder mechanism. Each binder is typically removably supported on a shelf by placing the bottom edges of the binder covers and spine of a closed binder on the top surface of the supporting shelf. Several binders are typically installed on a given shelf, and several shelves are typically incorporated into a shelf support structure, such as a cabinet. In order to enable the documents contained in the various binders to be readily accessed, some type of documents management system is necessary.
Documents management is typically performed by binder management. Each document is initially assigned to, and placed in, an identified binder dedicated to documents of a particular subject matter (e.g., “utility bills for a specific account”). Later-generated related documents are typically assigned to and placed in this same binder. When a binder is filled to capacity by documents, a new binder is provided for receiving additional documents of the same category.
Binder management is typically conducted by providing each binder with a label in a location (usually somewhere on the spine of the binder) in which the label is visible when the binder is stored on a shelf. The label contains readable information describing the content of the binder. The readable information is typically a short form of identification, such as an account name, a subject name (e.g., “Bank Statements”) or the like.
In order to provide ready access to the individual documents contained in the binders, some type of indexing arrangement is normally used to identify the location of each binder. A simple technique commonly employed is a manually prepared master list of all binders in the binder management system referencing each binder by the label information and noting the shelf and cabinet location of each binder. In large installations, more sophisticated indexing arrangements are used, such as a computer-based index listing all binders by a short form identifier and a corresponding enlarged and more thorough description of the binder contents. Even such computer-based arrangements still require the use of a readable label on each binder in order to identify a given binder to a user. This is highly undesirable, since it facilitates the search by any unauthorized user for a specific binder name or for a binder containing information of a particular type. Nevertheless, known binder management systems require the use of visible labels in order for the binders to be reasonably locatable.
In those applications in which several individuals have access to the binders, some arrangement is usually made to monitor the disposition of the binders. For example, in a business application, it is convenient and sometimes necessary to provide a sign out and return procedure so that the whereabouts of a given binder will always be known. Usually, such monitoring attempts fail to accurately track the binders because of the failure of individuals to faithfully follow the procedure. Consequently, at any given time, the integrity of the binder management system can only be verified by actually looking through each shelf and comparing the binders and their contents with the master index. This requirement is both time-consuming and burdensome, and thus a severe disadvantage.
In known binder management systems of the type described above, once a binder is provided with a contents identifier, that binder is permanently associated with the nature of its contents. To change the contents to some other category, the binder must either be thrown away and a new, unmarked binder substituted in its place, or the identification label must be changed. In addition, the master index must be up-dated, either manually or by using the computer in a computer-based indexing system. These procedures are not always followed by office personnel, and the integrity of the binder system is consequently compromised.
In all examples of known binder management systems, the binders are usually provided with some type of human readable or machine readable identification indicia, such as the label affixed to the spine of each binder. In more sophisticated systems, a computer is used to assist in keeping track of the binders. When a binder is removed from the usual location, some procedure is typically available to note the fact that that binder has been removed from its normal location. This procedure normally relies on either manual entry of the change into the system computer by an operator, or the use of label reading devices (e.g., bar code readers) to enter the information into the system computer. Unfortunately, not all users follow the binder tracking procedure faithfully and the result is that many binders can be missing from their assigned shelf positions at any given time.
A further disadvantage with known binder management systems lies in the fact that it is unnecessarily time-consuming to visually locate a sought binder even if that binder is in its proper location. The user must visually scan the spine label of each binder on a given shelf in a given cabinet until the sought binder is visually identified by the label information. If the sought binder has been previously misplaced on the wrong shelf of the same cabinet, the user must then visually scan all binders on the other shelves of that same cabinet until the sought binder is visually identified. If, after visually scanning all binders on all shelves of the same cabinet, the sought binder has not been found the user has no other recourse than to continue the visual scanning process on binders on shelves in the other cabinets in the binder storage area until the sought binder is located or all binders on all shelves of all cabinets in the binder storage area have been visually scanned and the sought binder has still not been located.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,717,143 issued May 6, 2014 (hereinafter the '143 patent) discloses a searchable binder suitable for use in a binder management system which is devoid of the above-noted disadvantages and which enables quick and efficient location of binders in a document management system. More particularly, the binder management system has a cabinet with shelves for removable storage of searchable binders. Each binder has a body with front and rear covers and a spine. Inside the body is a binder mechanism for removably retaining sheet media. Each binder has externally extending upper and lower ohmic contact members which ohmically engage conductive members mounted on the shelf surfaces near the front. Each binder has a binder identification circuit coupled to an LED mounted on the binder spine in a location visible when the binder rests on a shelf. When a binder identification signal from a host computer is presented to the shelf conductive members it is transferred by the binder contact members to the binder identification circuit. If the binder identification signal matches a code stored in the binder identification circuit, the LED is activated to aid the user in finding the binder. An LED and an optional audible indicator are mounted on the shelves to further aid the user in finding the sought binder.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a representative embodiment of a single binder according to the '143 invention. As seen in these Figs., a binder 10 has a front cover 12, a back cover 14 and a spine 15 joining the front and back covers 12, 14. A conventional multi-ring manually operable binder mechanism 16 having a plurality (3 illustrated) of two-piece arcuate rings 18 is permanently mounted to the inner face of rear cover 14 to facilitate insertion, storage and removal of documents having a number of holes formed along a mounting edge, with the number of holes corresponding to the number of rings 18 of the binder mechanism 16. Mounted on the inner surface of spine 15 are a binder identification circuit 20 carried by a substrate 20a, a pair of ohmic conductors 21, 22, an upper ohmic contact 24, a lower ohmic contact 25, and a visible indicator 27, preferably an LED. Visible indicator 27 is mounted in an opening formed in spine 15 so as to be visible from the outer side of binder 10. Upper and lower ohmic contacts 24, 25 are arranged on spine 15 in a position extending slightly above and below the upper and lower margins of spine 15 as shown. Each ohmic contact 24, 25 is a spring contact having a curved engagement portion 28 to promote sliding engagement with conductive strips which are carried by the binder support shelves in the binder storage cabinet. This arrangement enables the upper and lower ohmic contacts 23, 25 to ohmically engage conductive strips mounted on the shelves on which the binder can be removably stored. Thus, when a binder identification signal from a host computer is presented to the shelf conductive members it is transferred by the binder contacts 24, 25 to the binder identification circuit 20. If the signal matches, the LED 27 is activated to aid the user in finding the binder.
The other binder embodiment shown in the '143 patent has an ohmic contact arrangement similar in principle to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, but having ball and spring contact elements which effect the ohmic transfer of the incoming binder identification signal to the binder identification circuit 20. Both embodiments require both mechanical and ohmic contact between the shelf-mounted conductive strips and the contact elements. Over time, the conductive strips, the contact elements, or both can become mechanically worn or corroded, thus impairing the operability of the binder management system.